1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to transducer control systems, and particularly to a system for controlling the motional velocity of the radiating head of a longitudinal vibrator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The successful steering of sonar beams from an array of transducers depends upon accurately knowing the mechanical velocity of the individual active acoustic radiation members. If the adjacent transducers of an array, be it a planar, conformal or other type of array are spaced less than one-half wavelength ##EQU1## then, due to mutual coupling effects between the transducers, the magnitude and phase of the radiation member velocity does not necessarily follow the magnitude and phase of the drive voltage, when operated at or near resonance. The effects of this mutual interaction may result in inaccuracies in beam location as well as non-prescribed side lobe levels.
The present invention corrects this situation by deriving a control signal which is proportional to the velocity of the radiation member, and without any physical attachment to the radiating member.